Wednesday, November 7, 2012

5 months old!

Please excuse my delayed write-up - this month went by way too fast! Usually I’m very conscious about the 7th approaching - mentally planning out her birthday outfit, and looking at the calendar each day saying, “it’s almost here!” This month, the 7th crept up on me and I looked at the calendar and said “Oh crap, are you kidding me? 5 months already?!”

Hmmm…maybe it was the rolling over, the crawling, the squealing, the solid-feeding…or the all around non-stop beautiful chaos that is infant-hood. Yes, that’s right… she’s not a newborn, she’s an infant! This month in a nutshell is one word: LIVELY!

The biggest event that happened after her 4 month birthday was the big roll over. This was very monumental. I had her on her play mat and I went to the washroom and came back and she was on her tummy. I almost had a heart attack! And then once she did it, she wouldn't stop doing it! Every time she’s on her back, she swings around to her tummy, even when she’s on the changing table (which I really have to watch out for!)

Once that started, she couldn't wait to get going places. She’s kind of in the pre-crawling stage. She does little push-ups and wriggles around and shouts out, and moves herself very slowly towards her target (a toy, of course) She is figuring out the coordination of using her arms and legs at the same time to move herself.

We started her on solids early, under the advice of our doctor, because she had already doubled her birth weight and seemed curious about food. We feed her pablum in the evenings and she just loves it. It took her a few days how to figure out eating with a spoon, but then she learned. Now she gulps it so fast and opens her mouth and lunges forward when she sees the spoon coming. Now, when we take her out to dinner (if she’s not napping) she likes to sit on my lap at the table like the little lady that she is!

This month she had her first Halloween, which was so much fun. We dressed her as a little pink elephant and she loved all the attention! We did all the activities with her - pumpkin patch, trick-or-treating, etc. Last year I was too nauseous with morning sickness to enjoy any candies and I was dreaming about this year, having a little one to dress up. Next year, she will be walking on her own and probably picking out her own costume!

Just recently, she had her first day over with Grammy & Grampy Robinson, away from Mummy and Daddy (we took our first official date away from her, by going to see James Bond. I think I remember the last 30 minutes of the movie, since it took me the first hour and a half just to calm down!) They said she was on her best behavior and that Ziggy loved stealing a lick of her toes.

We are just waiting with anticipation for the arrival of her first teeth. She has been teething for a few months now, and it feels very sharp, especially on the top. She’s drooling like crazy, with slobber constantly coming down like string cheese! We have to have a few bibs on hand at all times.

Her schedule is very predictable now. She sleeps for 12 hours at night from 8pm to 8am (although I still check on her every few hours!), and then feeds every 3.5 hours, and in between each feeding she has a 30 minute nap.

She loves her jolly jumper so much - she squeals and shouts and kicks herself so high up in the air. Her legs are getting really strong now, that I have so many bruises on my thighs and tummy. Her favorite part of the day is when Daddy gives her a bath. Sometimes she surprises him with a big pee in the baby tub right before he starts (hey, at least that’s better than peeing ON him, en route to the bath, as she did on me a few times!) Before, her massage, he gives her a big tickle on her neck and tummy with his mustache and she just laughs so hard. She is very ticklish on her little tummy!

As always, she loves going out for walks. I have a rain cover that I put on her stroller and she looks at the rain droplets and tries to grab them.